


Machine Skin

by lettered



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers: Infinity War - Fandom
Genre: Gamora is mentioned, Gen, Infinity War, Peter Parker is referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 08:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14589474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettered/pseuds/lettered
Summary: Tony and Nebula go back to Earth.





	Machine Skin

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I was going to write more but this was what came out. Idk, guys.

After everything, Nebula was trapped on Titan with some human thing. Metal crawled on him like a second skin; a star burned in his chest. Nebula hated how the pieces of him reminded her of pieces of herself. _A waste of parts_ , Thanos had said of her possible death, and idly, she considered using the metal man for scrap.

Instead, they rebuilt a space ship together.

Limited interactions with the Peter had given Nebula to understand that human animals were asinine and chattered incessantly, making jokes no one cared about, referencing things no one could understand. The Tony animal did none of those things. He said virtually nothing as they worked on the machine, and even if his understanding of quantum gravitonic engines was rudimentary, he at least seemed to know what a non-baryonic generator was.

Once the nav system was operational, he set the metric tensor coordinates toward his animal planet Earth. “We are going to find Thanos,” Nebula said, because it was what they had agreed upon.

“Earth is his last known location,” said the Tony.

“He will not still be there.”

“Cool,” said Tony, but didn’t change the tensor coordinates.

Nebula reached for the console. His metal hand shot out to close around hers.

“Go after him alone—is that your plan?” He let go. “Your sister. Is that what she did? Go it alone? Was that why she died? Or was it because she had a team, a family—someone who loved her enough to die for her, and take the universe down with it.”

That last statement wasn’t a question. He hadn’t left time for her to answer any of the questions anyway. Nebula guessed she had been correct about the chattering of human animals, but what she said was, “Gamora never needed anyone.”

“Yeah, well. Sounded like she needed you.”

Gamora would never have been persuaded. She would have been smarter. Stronger. Better.

Nebula left the console alone. The ship exited Titan’s atmosphere, shuddering into the dark embrace of space. When wyverns hatched from eggs they shivered and cried, desperate and alone. Then their mothers came.

The Tony was mostly flesh now, metal parts having peeled away from his skin. It must be nice to shed the parts of you that were hard and somehow remain yourself. Tony just sat there, staring into the black. 

“The boy,” said Nebula. “He meant something to you. He was . . . your son?”

“Nope,” Tony said instantly. “Just some kid.”

More than half of Nebula’s body was made of metal. “Gamora was not my natural sister,” she said.

The Tony’s eyes changed, but they did not drip. Standing abruptly, he turned from the view window, and went back into the galley.

Nebula looked out. A nebula was a cloud of gas and dust, the place where new stars formed. She had been named for a nursery, and she imagined herself an egg—not the soft inner part, but the shell. Thanos had cracked her.

Gamora was the life inside.


End file.
